A freak accident sorting a pen of bulls for a bull riding event turned the career path for an Arthur, NE cowboy in a new direction.

James Marshall, who is known as the Sandhills hatter in his Arthur community, tried a few different occupations before finding his niche in the hat making business. When he first moved to Arthur, Marshall managed a ranch for about two and a half years before starting a successful fencing business.

“We were putting up barbwire fencing and repairing fencing,” says Marshall. “The business was doing pretty well.”

Then, during a weekend in Mitchell, NE, Marshall was helping sort a pen of bulls when a bull got Marshall down in the pen and hurt him really bad.

“He roughed me up pretty good,” Marshall explains. “My back was broken in several spots and I had to have several rods and pins put in. When I got out of the hospital, I realized I couldn’t fence anymore because of the pain.”

Not one to let his injuries get him down, Marshall started seeking out a new career.

“I knew a guy in Valentine, Ron Hollenbeck, who had a hat-making business, The Snake River Hat Company,” says Marshall. “I thought hat making looked like something I could do and I was interested in it, so I started researching it.”

He also started looking into the Educational Development of Growing Entrepreneurs (EDGE) offered through the University of Nebraska. Through EDGE, Marshall was able to make a business plan and see if his business would be lucrative on paper.

“The program is basically for start-up businesses to educate them on how to make a business plan and forecast a couple of years of sales and marketing to see if the business is feasible before you get into it,” he explained.

Deciding to give it a try, Marshall went to Idaho Falls, ID and trained and apprenticed with a hat maker there.

“I came home and purchased some equipment and started making hats,” he said. Marshall added the equipment wasn’t easy to find.

“It is very hard to find hat-making equipment,” he said. “When you do find it, it is usually so old and antique, it is not usable. I was fortunate to find a hat maker in Rapid City who had a whole set of duplicate equipment he sold to me.”

Unfortunately, Marshall wasn’t satisfied with the first hats he made, so he traveled to Twin Bridges, MT with a few of his hats to get some more help. A lady hatter there helped him fine tune the hats.

“She helped me with the things I was having problems with,” he said. “There is a lot of difference in the things that make a good hat or an excellent hat. I wanted to make excellent hats.

Nine years later, Marshall has made over 940 hats. He said he typically makes about 100-150 hats a year.

“It takes about four days to a week to make a hat because you have to let them cure,” he explained. “The process for making a hat is about the same no matter what quality of hat you make. There is not a lot of sophisticated stuff involved in hat building, it is just time-consuming.”

Since he started the business, Marshall said has sold hats to nearly every state and many countries. He has United States and world maps on the wall with pins marking all the states and countries where he has sold his hats.

Although most of Marshall’s hats are made for everyday cowboys, he does have at least one hat amongst the rich and famous.

“I once made a hat for Jeb Bush when he was the governor of Florida,” he said.

“Honestly though, I would just as soon build them for the cowboys around here,” he said. “They know what shape they would like and how they want it to look. They all have their own style and want it to look identical to that.”

As the years have gone by, Marshall’s reputation has grown by leaps and bounds.

“I am getting quite a little business in Texas,” he explained. “People down there are seeing the hats I’ve made and are starting to want more. Some people even order multiple hats. They get one and seem to like it, so they order more.”

Marshall also sets up a display when the Haythorn ranch holds its annual horse production sale. “Many people will come and have me measure their head, even if they don’t order a hat right then,” he explained.

“Although I would just as soon measure their head myself, I have a head measurement tape I can send to people who want to order a hat and can’t come to the shop,” he explained. “Most of the time, their hats seem to fit okay, but sometimes they have to do some re-measuring to get it to fit just right.”

Once Marshall finishes a hat, he also puts the size and hat number inside the sweatband for future reference.

Most of the hats Marshall makes are 50X, which are half beaver pelt. He also makes some 100X, which is 100 percent pure beaver, and a few 10X, which is 10 percent beaver. Hats which are not 100 percent beaver have filler materials like sheep’s wool, angora, rabbit, chinchilla, or nutria.

Marshall said there is a lot of difference in the beaver pelts.

“You can really tell the difference,” he explained. “The 100s will finish off a little finer and have a little better sheen to them. But the 50s will hold up almost as good as the 100s.”

The hat bodies, which resemble a Jed Clampett-style hat, are a long way from the custom-made hats Marshall makes when they arrive. The hat bodies can be made into a couple different sizes. “There is a colored string attached to the hat body telling what sizes can be made,” he said.

Marshall can also order different colors of hat bodies, although in some types of hats, the colors are more limited. Depending upon the quality of beaver a customer desires, Marshall said the hats vary in price from $375 to $600.

In addition to making custom hats, Marshall can also renovate, resize and clean hats. For more information, he can be reached at Marshall Custom Hats from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 308-764-2420.